At the recent Beaune tasting of 1997’s a number of people pointed to the quality of this wine – but those were the same people who downed the magnum before I could get a sample! Anyway given some of the illustrious names that made those comments I ‘bit’ on a case from a local merchant – that’s more bottles than my preference (at least 6 more!) but they don’t split cases – anyway at ~25% of the (ridiculous) price of the 2005 it turns out to be a bit of a ‘snip’! Come to think of it, if Sylvain did such a good job with his 97’s, I have a lovely warm feeling inside about that day in the future when I break open my six-pack of his 1999 Romanée Saint-Vivant…1997 Sylvain Cathiard, Vosne 1er Aux Malconsorts
Medium-plus ruby-red. The nose is deep and dense with an edge of maturity, cocoa and undergrowth too – actually it reminds me of the 97 La Tâche – cool! – very Vosne. The cocoa/chocolate is apparent on the palate too, set against some fat and a lovely penetrating and slowly lingering central line of flavour. Of-course the acidity is on a relatively low level but, hence, provides no awkward shape to the wine. The tannin is velvetty and has just a trace of bitterness, but in a pleasing bitter chocolate style. The length is very impressive – maybe it was worth buying a full 12 after-all! The balance makes this quite precocious, so for drinking from now and over the next 10+ years.Rebuy – Yes although I already have enough now!

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